“She and I have been friends for a long time and I want nothing but good things for her,” the news anchor shared about the comic who he once co-hosted CNN's New Year's Eve festivities with, according to USA Today. Kathy was later fired from the gig following the release of an image that featured her holding a decapitated head that resembled the president.

He went on to make comments during Friday's show that mirror those he shared in a tweet following the release of the photo. "I don’t want anybody’s career to be destroyed because they do something unfortunate and inappropriate, but yeah, I thought what she did was inappropriate," he said. "You know, I think I said that I thought it was completely inappropriate and I didn’t approve it in any way, and I think when you’re friends with somebody you can say that."

For the record, I am appalled by the photo
shoot Kathy Griffin took part in. It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate.

Kathy addressed his tweet in a press conference last week during which she revealed they had not spoken since her controversial photo went public. "That hurt, that's all," she shared about his response.

And he noted how strongly he felt about the photo considering his role as a journalist. "People were assuming I was somehow responsible for this and I just felt I should point out that I actually think this is pretty important as somebody who works overseas and, you know, journalists get beheaded and this is not a joke," he said. "Anyway, I said that and CNN made the decision not to bring her back. I had nothing to do with it, but I certainly understand why they made that decision. And look, I wish her well and I hope she bounces back and keeps doing what she does best, which is make people laugh."